Friday, October 17, 2008

KUALA LUMPUR: The Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry has ordered a leading hypermarket to immediately remove all alcoholic drinks in its soft drinks section.

The alcoholic drinks should be placed in the liquor section of the hypermarket and not with the soft drinks as this could mislead shoppers, especially minors, the ministry's secretary-general Datuk Mohd Zain Mohd Dom told the New Straits Times yesterday

The Petaling Jaya branch of the hypermarket was discovered recently to be selling 14 varieties of alcoholic pop drinks as well as popular brands of beer in its soft drinks section.

The alcoholic pop drinks come in colourful 275ml glass bottles and have an alcoholic content of between five and eight per cent .

They are priced between RM6.50 and RM12.

The labels on some of the bottles state that the alcoholic drinks contain Vitamin C.

Tidak halal labels were displayed near the price tags.

But, some of the tidak halal labels were partially hidden by the price tags.

Complaints have been pouring in from consumer groups on the sale of the alcoholic drinks and the ministry said it was investigating all these cases.

The Consumers Association of Penang had called for an immediate ban on the sale of alcoholic soft drinks. It said they posed a serious danger to youngsters.

CAP president S.M. Mohamed Idris said the association had received complaints from parents stating that their children had been consuming these alcoholic soft drinks.

"These parents have expressed fears about the chances of these youth being hooked to alcohol in future due to their exposure to these alcoholic soft drinks at a young age."